The Church in America is infatuated with the idea of church growth.  Books are written about it.  Websites are devoted to it.  Seminars discuss it.  Those who have large churches become models of church growth methodologies.  They pass on all sorts of techniques that they have used to grow their church. 

In recent years we have witnessed many churches changing their practices in order to amass more people.  Music styles have changed to attract people.  Service times have changed to accommodate more people.  In fact, church growth has become so important that many churches have even changed their message so as to get a bigger crowd. 

Please don't get me wrong.  I'm not against churches growing large.  I'm not against setting service times to be convenient for people to come.  I'm not against having nice sounding music, which people enjoy.  I do desire to see our church grow larger.  I do desire to see our church making an impact in our community.  But I am concerned that we may be being influenced by the church growth infatuation of our day, without even realizing it.  When you have been in a smoke-filled room for a time, your clothes begin to smell of the smoke.  Even when you leave the room, the odor is still apparent.  The current culture of the church today is so infested with church growth smoke, that some of this still lingers in our minds.  The burden of this article is for us to  be discerning with the sorts of church growth Rock Valley Bible Church ought to seek. As always, the question is not, "What are the experts saying about church growth?" But, "What does the Bible say about church growth." Here are some answers ...

Church growth is God's work
When you read through the book of Acts, you are quite impressed with the overwhelming explosion and expansion that took place in the early church. When Jesus was crucified, His followers had deserted Him and He was alone (John 16:31). When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, He spent time teaching His few disciples. At Pentecost, three thousand people believed Peter's message and were added to the church (Acts 2:41). A relatively short time later, there were about five thousand men in the church (Acts 4:4). Within a few years, the church was scattered to Samaria and to Judea (Acts 8:25-26). Soon afterward the church spread to include the Gentiles (Acts 10) and went throughout much of the inhabited world.

How did the early church grow so large so quickly? Did they implement fancy church growth techniques? Did the leaders teach one another how to attract large crowds? No. It was simply that the Lord caused the growth. Consider the following verses, "And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47). When the gospel came to the Gentiles, those in Jerusalem discerned the hand of God and said, "God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life" (Acts 11:18). When the gospel came to Psidian Antioch, we read that "as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48). 

God granted repentance. God poured out His Holy Spirit upon the people (Acts 2:4; 10:45; 19:6). God guided His apostles in where they should go. The Holy Spirit prohibited them from speaking the word in Asia (Acts 19:6). The Spirit of Jesus prohibited them from going into Bithynia (Acts 19:7). When Paul was considering the option of leaving Corinth after great persecution against him, the Lord told Paul to stay. God said, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city" (Acts 18:10). Church growth is God's work. There are times of revival when God will bring in large numbers. There are times when God will bring in only a remnant. The promise of Jesus remains: "I will build My church" (Matt. 16:18).

The true source of all church growth is God, Himself. Paul said it well, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth" (1 Cor. 3:6). Some may say that church growth is a partnership: we do our part and God does His part. But, in the next verse, Paul makes clear how much of a partnership this is. Ultimately, we play no part. He wrote, "so then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth" (1 Cor. 3:7). When it comes to growing the church, we are nothing and God is everything. The church is still responsible to "plant" and "water," which involves preaching, training, loving, serving, and helping. But the growth that results from this is caused solely by God.

Church growth is accomplished through an offensive message
It is no secret that in our sophisticated world today, there are many who see the message of a crucified Savior to be a ridiculous message. People today can hardly believe that God would become a man, especially a man who would be despised and hated and put to death on a cross. They also find it difficult to believe that it is even possible to be raised from the dead. Then, when you add to this message that repentance from your sins and trust in this God-man can remove all of your sin, the message of the gospel appears to be a fairy tale. This is precisely what Paul said, "The word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness" (1 Cor. 1:18).

Often, the message of the gospel brings more than indifference. It often brings hostility and antagonism, especially when you begin to expose sin in the lives of people. The Jewish leaders had Jesus killed because of His offensive message. They did the same with Stephen, who called these same people, "stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears" (Acts 7:51). Paul faced many who tried to kill him (Acts 23:14). The path to the kingdom of God is filled with "many tribulations" (Acts 14:22). Many of these
come because of the offense of the gospel message.

Many churches know that an offensive message will not attract many people. But since bringing people into the church is the central objective of many churches today, the gospel message is intentionally diluted to accomplish the purpose of church growth. Since people like to hear a soft message, the church preaches a soft message to get more people.

One tragedy of this methodology is that the same message that the world considers to be foolishness is "the power of God" to those who are being saved (1 Cor. 1:18). The message of a crucified Savior, taking upon Himself the wrath of God for those who believe, is a glorious message! The message that God's grace accomplished it all is good news to the ears of those who see their sin and their need of forgiveness before a holy God. "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16).

It is sunlight and water that grow plants. We would mock at the farmer who attempted to use any other means to grow his crop. The offensive message is the very means that God uses to build His church! We ought to use it.

Church growth is in maturity, not in numbers
As you read the Bible, you will never find a command given to a church to "grow in numbers." Certainly, we are to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15). As we do this, we trust that God will use the message to draw men to draw men unto Himself (John 6:44). In doing this, the church will certainly grow, as it has for two thousand years.

Yet, it is interesting that the Bible is silent about any command to grow in numbers. Paul wrote thirteen epistles. Not one of them contain an admonition to grow numerically. This is true of the seven other epistles written by James, Peter, John, and Jude. The epistle to the Hebrews contains no such exhortations either. When Jesus addressed the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, He gave only two messages. To bad churches, He told them to repent of their deeds (Rev. 2:5, 16, 22; 3:3, 19). To good churches, He told them to persevere, using such expressions as "be faithful" or "hold fast" (Rev. 2:10; 3:11). A church is never told to grow in numbers or rebuked for not growing numerically. 

In these epistles, however, we do find the church exhorted to grow in grace. For instance, Peter wrote, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18). He instructs those in the church to increase in their love to God, trusting in His grace and being convinced in the mind. Peter wrote to the scattered churches to "long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation" (1 Pet. 2:2). This is an all-encompassing command that encourages us along in the path of Christian maturity by living rightly and understanding God's grace in our lives. When Paul gave a broad overview of the church, he instructed the leaders of the church to equip the saints "for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12). This is accomplished as we "grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ" (Eph. 4:15). The commands given to the church are focused on growing in maturity and in unity, and not in numbers.

In all of this, I believe that as we are faithful to grow in our love for Christ and in our love for one another, God will build His church numerically. Jesus said, "by this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). As the world looks at the church and sees a community of people who have a genuine love for one another, they will know of Christ. Some will be drawn to us to hear the gospel and believe it. God builds His church through the holiness of His people, and not through the methods of the church growth experts. When explaining the need for the church to be holy, Jonathan Edwards wrote, "It is the wickedness of its members, that above all things in the world prejudices mankind against it; and is the chief stumbling-block, that hinders the propagation of Christianity, and so the growth of the christian church. But holiness would cause the light of the church to shine so as to induce others to resort to it" (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 1, p. 474).

Some concluding thoughts
For several years, my prayer for Rock Valley Bible Church has been that God would provide for the church and protect the church. God has answered both of these prayers and I trust He will continue to do so in the future.

As I think about the numerical growth of Rock Valley Bible Church, I haven't been discouraged. Sure, we haven't exploded in numbers. But, a flood of people coming into the church all at once can be difficult for the unity of the church, as people come in with all different sorts of goals and expectations. Yet, God has encouraged us with a steady growth. And those who have decided to remain with us have demonstrated their love for God with hearts of faithfulness to love and serve those in the church. In this way, there has been a tremendous unity in the church that has been established. My prayer is for the growth and unity to continue.

Here are a few things that you can do to promote the growth of Rock Valley Bible Church.

1. Pray. Since God grows the church, it only makes sense that you should pray to Him and plead for Him to build Rock Valley Bible Church. You can do this individually and corporately. Our prayer time at 8:45 is of great importance to me. It is here that we demonstrate our trust in God to build His church and we constantly express our entire dependence upon Him to accomplish His purposes among us. If you would like to see our church grow, please consider attending this important meeting.

2. Preach. Since God uses the message of the gospel of Christ to grow the church, it is logical for us to speak with others of Christ. Perhaps you have some unsaved neighbors or co-workers who need to hear the message of Christ. Perhaps you can find some way to interact with them so that God may give you the boldness to speak with them of the hope that is within you.

3. Press on. Since we are called to grow in grace, you ought to put forth effort in seeking the Lord. It is the simple things like Bible reading and prayer that are foundational in these efforts. Perhaps you might consider joining the church in reading through the Bible this year. The fruit of these efforts come in the form of a passion for God and a love for others. Your individual growth is church growth.